Yarns at Yin Hoo - A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

Episode 229

After a break during some blazing hot weather, I’ve returned to knitting on my Yell cardigan. Thank goodness. I’ve also started a new project with

August 4, 2019August 4, 20191 Min Reading

Episode 228

A finished sweater, progress on a sock spin, and a new source for fabric to make a wearable muslin! The Back Porch Niamh by Isabell

July 21, 20191 Min Reading

Episode 227

It’s hot, humid, and I’m working on house projects at Yin Hoo. My limbs are tired and I can only muster the energy for easy

July 7, 20192 Min Reading

Episode 226

The #yogisockskal will continue during July and August. Use my free pattern for yoga socks on Ravelry and post your progress to Instagram and on

June 20, 2019July 7, 20191 Min Reading

Episode 225

In this episode I provide the details of the #yogisockskal taking place during the month of June. Want to join in and knit a pair

June 2, 2019June 2, 20191 Min Reading

Episode 224

So many crafty adventures have happened in the month of May. It’s taken me awhile to get a new episode together, but I have been

May 28, 20192 Min Reading

Episode 223

THE FRONT PORCH Summer by Ankestrick Yoga Socks by Jennifer Wang Yell by Marie Wallin MARIE WALLIN KNITALONG Use #mariewallinkall on IG and post photos, questions,

May 5, 20192 Min Reading

Episode 222

Don’t obsess over your weight; eat like a heroine; exercise intuitively and renew through nature — sound advice and ‘elegant strategies’ that can be extracted

April 22, 20191 Min Reading

Arrows and Doorways

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

NEW PATTERN DESIGN!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.